Another NHLer is going to miss significant time to an injury suffered at the Olympics.

Mats Zuccarello, the Rangers’ leading scorer with 43 points, will miss 3-4 weeks with a non-displaced fracture in his left hand, according to the Bergen Record. Zuccarello suffered the fracture while representing Norway in Sochi, getting hurt during the preliminary round and missing Norway’s playoff loss to Russia.

With this news, Zuccarello joins a growing list of players that are going to miss major parts of their NHL campaigns. Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg could be out for the remainder of the regular season after hurting his back while playing for Sweden (he underwent back surgery on Friday) and Islanders captain John Tavares will miss the rest of the year after tearing his MCL while playing for Canada against Latvia.

The IOC should be required to purchase insurance for injuries to NHL players during the Olympics.

stakex - Feb 21, 2014 at 5:37 PM

While I agree with you… insurance doesn’t replace the player in the lineup. The Rangers are in a tight fight for a playoff spot, and their season could very well be in danger thanks to an injury like this.

nothanksimdriving123 - Feb 21, 2014 at 3:09 PM

It’s a total bummer, but careful about blaming the Olympics. With no Olympics, players would still be getting injured, just not necessarily the same guys and injuries.

jaybyrd99 - Feb 21, 2014 at 3:38 PM

It’s one thing getting hurt for the team that’s employing you , the NHL team that folks follow year after year after year.it’s another getting hurt, and costing said team, when playing in a 6 game max, every 4 year tourney. This sucks !

stakex - Feb 21, 2014 at 5:47 PM

Yeah sure, injuries happen….. but adding more games (4-7 depending on the teams performance), and compressing the NHL schedule makes injuries more likely in an Olympic year.

Also, its very different to get hurt playing for the NHL team that’s paying you…. then it is to get hurt playing for someone else, causing the NHL team/fans to deal with the consequences.

I have a solution though…. let NHL players go to the Olympics all you want. However, the stipulation should be that if they get injured, they won’t get paid at all. No insurance, nothing. Also, allow teams to cancel the contract of a player that suffers a serious injury at the Olympics, since a serious enough injury can impact a players long term play and teams shouldn’t be stuck with them in that case. Seems fair to me since a player going to the Olympics is risking damage to their NHL team, so their should be some risk for the player as well if he chooses to go.